carefully.

"I think he will get over it," he said, to the farmer's wife. "It
is a nasty cut; but there is nothing dangerous in the wound,
itself. It is the general shock to the system, together with the
hardships and suffering he had gone through. He is a mere boy--not
above seventeen or eighteen. He says in his note he is a captain,
but it can hardly be so."

"He is a captain, sir. There is his uniform hanging up."

"Yes," the surgeon said, "that is the uniform of a captain in the
staff, and he has got the commander's button of the legion of
honor. I wonder who he can be.

"Ralph Barclay," he said thoughtfully, looking at the pencil note
Ralph had sent him. "Ah, now I remember the name. I thought it was
familiar to me. This is the young Englishman who made his way
through the lines into Paris, with dispatches He is a fine young
fellow. We must do what we can for him."

"Could you take him into your hospital, sir?" the woman asked.

"He will be better where he is, if you will continue to nurse him."

"Yes, I will do that; but I thought he would be so much better
looked after, in the hospital."

"No," the surgeon said, "that is just what he would not be. Every
room is literally crowded with wounded; and wounds do infinitely
better in fresh, pure air, like this, than in a room with a close
atmosphere, and other bad wounds.

"The fever medicine I sent over will last him for some days. I have
brought over a tin of little biscuits. Give him the fever medicine,
every two hours, until there is a change; and whenever you can get
him to take it, give him a little broth made of a spoonful of the
essence of meat in a liter of boiling water or, for a change, some
arrowroot. I will show you how to make it, when we get back to the
house.

"Can you manage to stay with him? He will want a good deal of
looking after, for the next two days."

"Yes, sir, I was talking to Jacques about it, today. He will go
over to the next village--it is only a mile away--and will fetch my
sister, who lives there, to keep house for a bit."

"That is capital," the surgeon said. "And now, watch attentively
how I put this bandage on; and do it the same way, once a day. When
you have put the bandage on, you must put wet cloths to his head,
as long as he remains delirious. I am awfully busy; but I will ride
over again, in three or four days, to see how he is getting on.

"By the way, it may be an advantage to you if I give you a paper,
signe